{"id":215361,"date":"2026-06-10T09:30:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T09:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/215361\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T09:30:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T09:30:24","slug":"sba-visits-pennsylvanias-2026-small-business-person-of-the-year-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/215361\/","title":{"rendered":"SBA visits Pennsylvania\u2019s 2026 Small Business Person of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each May, entrepreneurs and small-business owners across the country are recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration during Small Business Week for their contribution to the American economy \u2014 highlighted with the presentation of local and national awards.<\/p>\n

This year a business owner from southern Chester County received one of the national awards.<\/p>\n

Gale Ferranto, president of Buona Foods<\/a> of New Garden Township, a fourth-generation family owned and operated mushroom farm, was named Pennsylvania\u2019s Small Business Person of the Year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an honor to be named SBA\u2019s Pennsylvania Small Business Person of the Year,\u201d Ferranto said in a statement. \u201cThank you to the SBA and to the Women\u2019s Business Center at WBEC-East, where even long-established businesses like Buona Foods continue to access, engage and learn from their consultants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferranto and the other state and territory Small Business Owners of the Year were recognized during an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., on May 4 during Small Business Week.<\/p>\n

On May 27, Jim Spencer, regional administrator, SBA Mid-Atlantic Region, and Steve Dixel, SBA Eastern Pennsylvania district director, visited Ferranto and Buona Foods.<\/p>\n

\"GaleGale Ferranto, president, Buona Foods, was named Pennsylvania\u2019s Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Representatives from the Small Business Administration visited Buona Foods on May 27 to recognize Ferranto. In this photo, left to right are: Jim Spencer, SBA Mid-Atlantic regional administrator; Colleen LaCoss, WBEC-East WBC director; Ferranto; Rachel Roberts, American Mushroom Institute president; and Steve Dixel, SBA Eastern PA district director.
\n(Courtesy SBA Eastern PA District)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a privilege to recognize the achievements of exceptional entrepreneurs such as Gale Ferranto,\u201d Dixel said in a statement. \u201cGale is forging a leadership path in a technically difficult agricultural field, and she exemplifies the entrepreneurial drive, innovation and community leadership that this award is intended to recognize.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"StevenSteven Dixel (Courtesy SBA Eastern Pennsylvania District)<\/p>\n

Buona Foods was founded in 1972, and grows and packages a line of fresh as well as dried mushrooms for retail and food service customers across the country.<\/p>\n

Among the varieties of mushrooms the business produces are white button, cremini, portabella, shitake, lion\u2019s mane and oyster mushrooms, according to Buona Foods\u2019 website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The company produces more than 3 million pounds of mushrooms every year and operates two farms \u2014 Bella Mushroom Farms and Pleasantville Farms.<\/p>\n

Ferranto joined her mother, Rosemarie \u201cRoRo\u201d Ferranto, in running the business in 2006. Three generations of the Ferranto family are involved in the daily operations of the company.<\/p>\n

Over the last 10 years, the company expanded its capacity by adding a 50-acre farm, increased its web traffic by 26% and established itself on social media, the Small Business Administration said in a release.<\/p>\n

Buona Foods is a certified woman-owned small business with 30 employees. Ferranto uses technical assistance from the Women\u2019s Business Center at WBEC-East, a resource partner of the SBA, according to the release. She was nominated for the award by Colleen LaCross, director, WBEC-East Women\u2019s Business Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when America\u2019s agricultural industry faces unprecedented struggles, Buona Foods continues to grow under Gale\u2019s leadership,\u201d LaCoss said in a statement. \u201cThis award not only honors a thriving women-owned enterprise but also celebrates a vision of how America\u2019s small towns and farmer manufacturers can grow together \u2014 rooted in tradition, driven by innovation and committed to sustaining local economies from one generation to the next.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferranto serves as the coordinator of the Kennett Square Mushroom Festival, which draws more than 10,000 visitors each year. In January, she leads a team at the Mushroom Farmers of Pennsylvania food concession at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, according to the release.<\/p>\n

Ferranto also served two three-year terms with The Mushroom Council, a national research and promotion board administered under the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service.<\/p>\n

In addition, to honor the memory of Buona Foods\u2019 founder, the Ferranto family established the RoRo Ferranto Fund to support ALS United Mid-Atlantic\u2019s Care Services.<\/p>\n

\"JimJim Spencer (Courtesy US Small Business Administration)<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring National Small Business Week<\/a>, we celebrate the entrepreneurs who are the backbone of our communities and the driving force behind our economy,\u201d Spencer said in a statement. \u00a0\u201cAcross our region, small-business owners continue to innovate, create jobs, and inspire the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

SBA\u2019s Pennsylvania Small Business Person of the Year award winner is selected from nominees across the 67 counties of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Each May, entrepreneurs and small-business owners across the country are recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[60,1557,182,25912,139,28,30,29,706],"class_list":["post-215361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-business","tag-chester-county","tag-local-news","tag-new-garden-township","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}